Cover Page

Contents

Preface
Letter

SECTION I

Orientation
Summary

SECTION II

History
Needs
Geography
Historic Sites
Competitors
Economic Aspects

SECTION III

Federal Lands
State and Interstate
Local

SECTION IV

Division of Responsibility
Local
State
Federal
Circulation

SECTION V

Educational Opportunities

Federal Agencies Concerned with Public Recreation

National Park Service.—The primary function of the National Park Service is to administer the federally owned areas of superlative scenery, and of outstanding historic, prehistoric, and scientific importance, with the twofold objective of preserving the principal features of these areas, and of providing for the public enjoyment of the same in such manner as to leave them unimpaired for the future. The Service also has other duties which include the administration of the parks of the National Capital, operation of certain Government buildings, and supervision of Emergency Conservation Work in State, county, and metropolitan parks, as well as in national parks and monuments.

The first national park was Yellowstone, established by act of Congress in 1872. The National Park Service was not created until August 25, 1916, when there were already 16 national parks. There are now 24 national parks and numerous national monuments and other reservations under the administration of the National Park Service. The earliest national parks were spectacular areas of the public domain, withdrawn from entry and reserved for public use. More recently there have been added to the system suitable lands that have been acquired from private ownership and presented to the Federal Government.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the establishment of national monuments by Presidential proclamation. The national monuments are Federal areas containing objects of historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest.

For 18 years Yellowstone was the only national park, During the first 25 years of its history many questions regarding its administration came up in Congress, and policies were established that have since been applied to other national parks, thus helping to form a code of administration for the system. The merit of Yellowstone as a national reservation did much to stimulate the general policy of Federal control of superlative areas. The twin purposes are the preservation of the areas for future generations and their use by the present generation. No individual can acquire exclusive control over any part of a national park. Facilities for public use are provided by operators who hold leases under contracts which provide for supervision of their operations and regulation of the prices charged.

The national interest dictates decisions regarding public or private enterprise in the parks. National parks are wildlife sanctuaries and hunting is not permitted, though fishing is allowed because of the replaceable nature of this resource.

The educational opportunities of national parks and monuments are great, since the areas contain the supreme in objects of scenic, historic, or scientific interest. Education is an important part of the enjoyment and benefit that may be derived from the use of the parks. An important service to individual development is that of inspiration. The naturalist service supplements, but does not duplicate, the natural history offered by schools and colleges. This service is made freely available to all park visitors to aid in their appreciation and interpretation of scenery and other park features. The extent to which visitors utilize this service depends upon whether their interest is elementary or technical, casual or constant.

Administration of the parks deals with problems in forestry, construction of roads and buildings, and wildlife conservation. Careful attention is given to landscape matters in order that developments may aid, and not interfere with, the primary purpose of the reservations.

At the present time the areas administered by the National Park Service in the 48 States are designated as follows: 24 national parks, 1 national historical parks, 11 national military parks, 67 national monuments, 10 battlefield sites, 11 national cemeteries, and 4 miscellaneous national memorials, making a total of 128.

The total area of the principal groups within the 48 States is as follows: National parks, 6,444,734 acres, national monuments, 2,825,469 acres, other designations, 18,407 acres, making a total of 9,288,610 acres or approximately 14,513 square miles.

Travel to the national parks has increased with the greater use of automobiles, with improvement of the highway systems of the country, and with a more widespread knowledge of the national parks and a growing public interest in them. At the time of the organization of the National Park Service in 1917 the volume of travel to the national parks was small, less than one-half million people. In the 1934 travel year (Oct. 1, 1933—Sept. 30, 1934) there were more than 3-1/2 million visitors to the national parks, and the total number of visitors to all national parks, monuments, and other reservations exceeded 6 millions. The need for development of facilities for visitors to national parks has grown greater with the increase in travel, but in many of the national parks and other areas the development has lagged behind the actual needs.

The Government builds and maintains administrative and housing facilities for the employees of its organization; also builds and maintains roads, trails, museums, information offices, comfort stations, public camp grounds, and facilities, which are available to the public without charge. Hotels, restaurants, hospitals, transportation, and other services, for which a charge is made, are provided by privately owned companies. National park automobile license fees are collected from private automobile entrants in some of the parks, and all parks revenues are turned in to the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

Congress has authorized the establishment of the following national parks and national monuments when the ands involved are deeded to and accepted by the United States without cost, and when certain other special provisions in individual cases are met: Shenandoah National Park, in Virginia; Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky; Isle Royale National Park in Michigan; Everglades National Park in Florida; Badlands National Monument in South Dakota; Monacacy National Military Park in Maryland; Ocmulgee National Monument in Georgia; and the Pioneer National Monument in Kentucky.

Bureau and of Biological Survey.—This Bureau administers lands reserved, purchased, or leased for the benefit of migratory birds and other wildlife. The principal value of these game and bird refuges is recreational. They offer recreation by improving the hunting (both gun and camera) elsewhere. Preserving rare species of birds and animals from extinction also has a recreational value. The Bureau administers 104 wildlife refuges, of which 65 are maintained primarily for migratory waterfowl.

Bureau of Fisheries.—This Bureau conserves aquatic resources by means of restocking, makes biological investigations and technological studies, and regulates the Alaska fisheries. It furnishes recreation by maintaining the supply of game fish in addition to serving commercial fisheries. It is estimated that there are about 10 million anglers in the United States. The Bureau cooperates with other Federal agencies and with the various States and organizations of sportsmen. The annual output of its hatcheries includes about one hundred million game fish and several billion commercial fish. The greater part of the Bureau's funds and activities are devoted to the production of game fish, which require much more care and expense than commercial fish.

Forest Service.—Under direct administration by the Forest Service are more than 160 million acres of national forests in 33 States, as well as in Alaska and Puerto Rico—an area approximately equal to the unappropriated and unreserved public domain. This acreage is being rapidly increased, particularly in the South and Middle West, under the present purchase program.

The national forests are managed on the principles of providing the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run. In national forest recreational development the stress is laid on providing healthful outdoor recreation. Camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, and mountaineering are encouraged.

Several different types of recreational forest areas are recognized: Superlative areas, primeval areas, wilderness areas, roadside areas, camp-site areas residence areas, and outing areas. Another grouping, in more general use at present, is composed of natural areas, primitive areas, and recreational areas.

The Forest Service looks upon the recreational possibilities of the national forests as a public resource to be used wisely and to be carefully safeguarded. Special use permits are given to those who desire summer homes, hotels, and resorts.

Recreational use is secondary to the primary objective of forestry, but the two uses are generally coordinated. It is necessary to supervise the recreational use of the forests to reduce fire hazards and unsanitary conditions. Fishing and hunting are permitted in most of the national forests. Some Federal game refuges have been established and numerous State game refuges have been created within the forests.

In 1917, there were 2 million visitors to the national forests; by 1933, there were 35 million, including not only those who camped or hunted or fished on the forests but those who drove through them.

About 3 million acres of national forests have been closed to domestic livestock in the interest of wildlife improvement.

Bureau of Reclamation.—The Bureau is charged with the investigation, survey, and construction and maintenance of irrigation works for storage, diversion, and development of waters for the reclamation of arid and semiarid lands in the States west of the one hundredth meridian, and also with the development and use of hydroelectric power in connection with such projects. The reclamation projects are generally unsuited for national parks and monuments because the works of man predominate over the works of nature. Recreation is a secondary consideration to reclamation projects, and no extensive developments have been undertaken by the Bureau for recreation. However, there are some boating and fishing on reclamation reservoirs, and camping near reclamation projects. Recreation in connection with reclamation projects could be stimulated by the Federal Government.

In 1932, the area irrigated with water from Reclamation Service projects was 2,769,605 acres. Many of the storage reservoirs administered by the Bureau are stocked with fish.

Office of Indian Affairs.—The Office of Indian Affairs is charged with all matters pertaining to the Indians while they remain on their reservations. The areas of the public domain which have been set aside as Indian reservations (1934) comprise 48,131,070 acres.

Many of the Indian reservations are highly scenic, and if made available for public use, parts of the reservations could be developed for recreational purposes; but since the areas are set aside primarily for the Indians, any recreational use of the reservations must be restricted to that which is consistent with the welfare of the Indians.

General Land Office.—The General Land Office supervises the survey, management, and disposition of the public lands and the public mineral lands, the granting of railroad and other rights of way, and surveys lands in the national forests, public domain, and national parks and monuments. The original public domain in the United States proper contained 1,442,200,320 acres. The 378,165,760 acres of Alaska are also part of the public domain. The lands for which title has passed from the United States total 1,016,214,480 acres. The unappropriated and unreserved public lands in the continental United States as of July 1, 1933, amounted to 172,084,580 acres.

There are few areas of the unappropriated public domain which are extensively used for recreational purposes.

Some parts of the unappropriated public domain are highly scenic, and certain areas should be added to existing national reserves. Other portions of the public domain would be valuable for wildlife production, if present overgrazing by domestic stock were prevented.

Federal Lands in the Territories and Insular Possessions.—The total area of Alaska is 378,165,760 acres, of which 27,628,378 acres are reserved as national forests and national parks and monuments. The total area of the Hawaiian Islands is 4,117,360 acres. Hawaii National Park has an area of 156,800 acres. Many opportunities for recreation are found in these islands, such as swimming, fishing, hiking, tennis, horseback riding, and hunting.

There are few public lands available for recreational development in insular possessions such as Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Samoa.

The territories and insular possessions offer opportunities to the people of continental United States for recreational and educational travel.

State and Interstate Systems

State Parks.—The total area of all State parks 3,755,985 acres, or about 3 percent of the area of the national forests. This acreage comprises five types of holdings, i. e., State parks, recreation reserves, monuments, waysides, and parkways, and yet because the State parks are readily accessible from large centers of population, they are visited annually by a greater number of people than visit the national parks and forests combined.

Forty-six of the 48 States now have State parks or areas set aside primarily or wholly for recreational use, Colorado and Montana being the only two not having State-owned areas for recreational use. It is estimated that the number of visitors to State parks in 1930 was 45,000,000.

The first recreational areas established by a State were the "Great Ponds" of Massachusetts, which were decreed by ordinance in 1641 to be "forever open to the public for fishing and fowling", and their legal status remains unchanged today.

The first State park included Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove, and was granted to California for that purpose by Congress in 1864. Later it was returned to the Federal Government for inclusion in Yosemite National Park.

The comparatively low acreage of State parks in many Western States is partly compensated for by the fact that national parks and national forests offer excellent recreational opportunities for the people of these States.

A few States have made reasonably adequate funds available for the acquisition, development, and maintenance of State parks, but in most States this field of activity is still struggling for sufficient recognition. In some States comprehensive surveys of recreational resources have been made, and a few States have built up excellently balanced systems of State parks, but in many cases areas have been included which are either too small, of little value for recreation, lacking in scenic quality, or too expensive to operate. While most State recreational areas are called State parks, the parks themselves vary from large, important areas to small tracts of little value.

The method of administering State parks varies widely. The commission form is one of the most frequent and successful types of administration. State parks are often administered in connection with State forests. The powers of the park administration representing the State usually include the purchase of lands for use as parks, the acceptance of lands or funds, the right of eminent domain, the construction of roads, buildings, and other facilities, the employment of personnel, and the enforcement of rules and regulations.

Those States which have employed competent, technically trained men have usually been most successful in developing areas for public use without destroying the primitive scenic values of the areas.

Camps and picnic grounds are usually operated by the States, while overnight lodging, cafes, and similar services are provided by concessionaires. The granting of summer home sites and other exclusive, individual rights, has been tried, but such a policy is generally disapproved.

Nature guide service is given to visitors in the case of a few States; some nature trails are in use; and museums are found in a number of parks. The extension of educational uses of State parks offers a wide field of opportunity for the future.

The preservation of natural conditions and development for recreational use are the principal objectives of State parks.

A number of State park systems include areas which have historic, prehistoric, or scientific importance, as well as areas of scenic value. Historic sites are usually not suitable for active recreation, and their value should not be impaired by any use which conflicts with their main purpose.

Foot Trails.—In some States foot trails have been established, usually with the aid of outdoor organizations. These trails are carefully selected strips of land over which the right-of-way has been granted by landowners. The Appalachian Trail, extending along the mountain ranges from Maine to Georgia, more than 2,000 miles in length, is a notable project of this type.

State Forests.—State forests have important recreational values, and they are utilized to a varying extent in different States. Some of the State forests offer excellent opportunities for hunting and fishing, as well as camping and a variety of outdoor activities. The State forests are usually larger areas than State parks and have less density of use.

Local Systems

Metropolitan Recreational Areas.—A metropolitan district, as defined by the. Federal Census Bureau, comprises a central city and all adjacent civil divisions having a density of population of not less than 150 inhabitants per square mile. In 1930 there were 96 metropolitan districts in the United States, each having an aggregate population of 100,000 or more.

The objective of metropolitan park planning is to secure recreational areas which are accessible for frequent use by the people of the district. Metropolitan recreational systems include areas within the central city, and in the smaller cities of the district, but the larger areas are usually located in the more open and less populated parts of the region. With the present use of automobiles, areas within approximately 50 miles of the center of a metropolitan district, are accessible for frequent recreational use, even though they lie outside of the district itself.

There are only six special metropolitan park districts in the United States.

In 1930, 186 cities of the United States reported owning a total of 381 parks, outside of their boundaries, but within their metropolitan region. The area of these parks was reported as 90,000 acres.

County Recreational Areas.—The county has potential importance as a governmental agency in metropolitan park planning. The total area of county parks in the United States in 1930 exceeded 100,000 acres. The majority of the 74 counties reporting one or more county parks in 1930, lie wholly or partially within the metropolitan regions of cities. More than half of the total county park areas in the United States is in counties of the metropolitan regions of New York and Chicago.

Recreational services provided in many county parks include those services which are offered in city parks.

Other county parks are larger areas, kept in a natural condition, and with a limited amount of development.

A prominent feature of the larger county park may be the parkway. Usually a parkway may offer other recreational opportunities in addition to motoring.

Municipal Recreational Areas.—Because of the present high concentration of the population of the United States in urban communities, the chief burden of year-round recreational service must fall upon the municipal parks. The best utilization of lands and waters within and near the boundaries of cities, is highly important.

In 1930, 1,072 cities having a population of 5,000 or more, reported having a total park area of 308,805 acres. The average ratio of park area to population was one acre to every 208 persons.

In municipal recreation systems, the children's playgrounds and neighborhood parks are the most numerous. The greater part of the area, however (more than 75 percent of the total), is in large parks, such as outlying forest parks or similar reservations. Municipal recreation systems sometimes show lack of balanced planning. The area devoted to children's playgrounds and neighborhood playfields is often inadequate, and so, too, are the areas devoted to educational-recreational purposes.

The ratio of 1 acre of recreational area to every 100 of the population in cities of 10,000 is generally accepted as a reasonable standard, and a ratio of one acre to 275 inhabitants may be assumed as a standard for cities of between 5,000 and 10,000 population. On this basis all cities having a population of 5,000 and above have less than one-half of the desirable minimum acreage of recreation space.

Township Recreational Areas.—The township unit is more important in New England than elsewhere in the United States. For statistical purposes, these recreational areas are usually grouped with those of municipalities.

FIGURE 6.

Park Educational Work

Some guiding principles of park educational works are

1. Simple, understandable interpretation to the public of the major features of each park by means of field trips, lectures, exhibits, and literature.

2. Emphasis upon leading the visitor to study nature in situ rather than to utilize second-hand information

3. Utilization of a highly trained personnel with field experience, able to interpret for the public the laws of the universe as exemplified in the parks, and able to develop concepts of the laws of life useful to all.

4. Pursuance of a research program for the purpose of furnishing a continuous supply of dependable facts suitable for use in connection with the educational program.

In the field of national parks, endeavor has centered upon placement of trained men—scientists or historians—in every parks to act as curators of natural treasures and technical advisers on scientific features, and with the help of temporary naturalists or historians, to conduct a five-point program consisting of guided trips, and campfire lectures, museum programs, nature trails, and useful publications. Guided trips constitute the most important and most unique part of the program. The method stressed is expressed in Agassiz's old dictum: "Study nature, not books."

An essential part of an interpretive program is the park museum and the orientation station. Objective materials have been used to tell a simple story. In some cases a central museum has rooms devoted to geology, biology, ethnology, and history; in other cases wayside museums have been provided, each one explaining nearby phenomena—rock formations, geysers, history, or animal life. The museums provide head quarters facilities for the educational staff.

The nature trail is an efficient method of helping park visitors to become acquainted with interesting geologic and biologic features along a trailside. There are always those who prefer studying things quietly by themselves, and labeled rocks, trees, and plants fulfill this requisite. Self-guiding nature trails are now available to the public in many parks.

The Yosemite School of Field Natural History is an annual summer school for the training of naturalists, where emphasis is placed on the study of living things in their natural environment. The teaching staff is composed of university professors who donate their time and of members of the Yosemite naturalist service staff. Though no university credit is offered, a certificate indicating accomplishment is awarded graduates of the school.

An educational program must be founded on reliable facts secured through scientific research. Facts useful in the work must be culled from literature, and much library work must be done by trained historical assistants before a dependable story can be told. Hence, the need for the historical research staff located at the Library of Congress. Likewise in the field of biology there must be a staff of technically trained men to study the fauna and flora of the park areas, furnish the facts needed for proper wildlife administration, and develop wildlife policies to be followed. Only a start has been made on a research staff sufficient to improve accuracy of statement and safety of method employed.

Present park educational programs are inadequately supported financially and are undermanned everywhere. Added financial support to permit increased personnel, looking toward adequate meeting of demand, and additional working tools is the greatest need at present. With increased travel and use of educational facilities must come an expanded program. The national park educational program, but 14 years old, has passed the stage of an experiment and attained that of a stabilized and valued activity. There remains little need for changing objectives or methods but great need for serving the public more adequately. This can readily be accomplished by an increase in permanent and temporary personnel and provision of museum units where needed.

It is in State and municipal parks that there is greatest need for educational programs. Travel is very heavy and visitors seek profitable utilization of their time. There is ample proof from such projects as Oglebay Park in West Virginia and Bear Mountain Park in New York that national-park methods are equally applicable in State and territorial parks. Modification of programs to meet the shorter stay and the more local-minded visitor is relatively easy, if emphasis be placed on self-guiding trails and museums, as is done in Bear Mountain Park in New York State.

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Last Modified: Fri, Sep. 5, 2003 10:32:22 am PDT
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